Skate Towards My Heart
by OnceUponACaskett
Summary: Lexa teaches Clarke how to ice skate during a visit to Polis in the winter.


**A/N: Inspired by a Tumblr prompt:** _ **Imagine your OTP going ice-skating together. Person A is still pretty inexperienced and tightly holds Person B's hand as the glide across the ice.**_

"Are you sure this is safe?" Clarke asked, her eyes warily scanning the surface of the frozen over pond.

"Once again, Clarke, yes, I am certain," Lexa replied with a small laugh. "You have seen plenty of others skate on this very pond and no danger befell any of them."

"Yeah, but what if the ice is weaker because it's been used so much?"

"Clarke, we have been doing this for many, many years now. I have people test the ice each day before it is deemed safe enough to skate on. You watched Ryder walk straight across it without a problem and I think if the ice can hold him, it can hold us too."

Clarke bit her bottom lip, her eyes never straying from the pond. She'd thought this was a good idea—the chance to go ice skating with Lexa, regardless of the fact that she didn't know how to skate, had been too great an opportunity to pass up—but now she wasn't so sure. She felt a hand cup her cheek and turn her head so that she was staring into Lexa's green eyes.

"If you do not wish to do this anymore then I will not force you to," she said quietly. "But you know that I would never voluntarily put you in harm's way."

Clarke sighed. She knew Lexa was telling the truth. If something was dangerous, she definitely wouldn't be advocating for her to try it. Finally, she made a decision. "Alright. Let's do it."

"Only if you're certain. I do not want you to feel like you have to do this."

"No, no, I'm good. Let's do this."

Lexa stood up from the fallen log they'd been sitting upon and balanced herself on the ice skates attached to her feet. They were surprisingly well-made skates that had nothing crude about them.

"Well, of course, Clarke," Lexa had told her when she'd made a passing mention about the design. "It wouldn't do for my people to participate in this activity with subpar equipment."

She helped Clarke up and they waddled to the edge of the pond. Not for the first time was Clarke grateful that the Commander had brought her skating when no one else was there. The only people around were the few guards they had brought while they were outside the walls of Polis.

"Okay, now when you put your first foot on the ice, push off very lightly with the other on solid ground and then place it on the ice while you're moving," Lexa instructed.

Taking a deep breath, Clarke did as she directed. It was a weird feeling having her feet simply gliding beneath her. Her arms were spread out on either side of her as she attempted to keep her balance. She heard Lexa come up beside her, skating like a pro.

"You're doing great, Clarke," she praised, a grin set firmly on her face. "Now try moving your legs to make yourself go forward. Do exactly what I do." The blades on her skates sliced into the surface of the pond as she pumped her legs and swayed slightly from side to side.

Clarke tried her best to imitate her, but she wobbled and flung her arms out, flailing in desperation. A hand caught one of hers and steadied her once more. She looked at Lexa who was holding back her laughter.

"Shut up," the blonde scowled. "Don't laugh at me!"

"I'm not, I promise," Lexa said.

"Yes you were," Clarke grumbled.

"Come on, Clarke." She linked their hands together and set off skating, tugging the girl behind her. "We'll do this together."

"Don't you dare let go of me, Lexa," Clarke warned, intertwining their fingers for a better grip.

"I won't."

It took them a while, but they eventually made one circuit around the pond, Clarke tentatively moving her legs in the skating motion that Lexa had demonstrated while the other held her hand and guided her.

As they started their second lap, Clarke asked, "So how long have you known how to ice skate?"

"Since I was a child," Lexa replied. "My mother taught me how to when we came to visit Polis once. It quickly became a favorite activity of mine to do, but I find it harder and harder to make time for it ever since I became Heda."

"Well, I'm glad we got to do this then," Clarke smiled. It was quite rare when she and Lexa found time to simply be alone together. Nothing more had happened between them, but Clarke cherished the moments when the great and fearless Commander of the now 13 clans could be so open with her.

"I am too." Lexa glanced at their joined hands and said, "I think you can try skating on your own now."

Her expression turned to one of anxiety. "Are you sure?"

"You will be fine." Her assurance did nothing to calm Clarke's frazzled nerves. "Just continue doing what you were while holding my hand."

A fleeting moment of panic rushed through the blonde as Lexa disconnected their hands, giving her just a couple extra feet of room, but remaining close enough to help her should she need it.

Hesitantly, Clarke began to pump her legs. Her body was leaned forward and her arms once again were outstretched. Ever so slowly, she gained her confidence and the expression of sheer terror on her face melted away, instead replaced by joy. Her eyes found Lexa's and she saw nothing but pure adoration and pride.

"Lexa, I'm actually doing it!" she exclaimed in excitement.

"I know, Clarke," the Commander chuckled. "See if you can go one time around the pond by yourself without falling. I'll wait here."

"And what do I get if I do it?" Clarke asked suggestively, lips forming a smirk.

Lexa immediately blushed, an action always easily elicited whenever the two of them were alone.

Clarke laughed. "I was just kidding, Lexa." Clearing her throat, she inhaled deeply. "Anyway, here goes nothing." She set off around the edge of the pond with the feeling of a pair of eyes practically burning a hole in her back.

She had made it most of the way and was but a few feet from where she had begun when she could feel feet give out from under her as she toppled over. Lexa reached out to try to catch her, but found herself falling with Clarke's momentum. Instinctively, a hand went behind and cradled the back of Clarke's head in order to stop it from hitting the ice. They fell in a heap, both groaning at the impact.

"Damn! I was so close," Clarke wailed in embarrassment.

"I would say you made it all the way around," Lexa said, attempting to console her. "You just happened to fall _into_ the finish point."

Clarke raised an eyebrow. "So if you're saying I actually made it around, then what's my prize?"

Swallowing a lump that had formed in her throat, Lexa suddenly became all too aware of their current position. Almost every part of their bodies were touching as she laid on top of her—the place she had landed when they'd fallen together. "Well…what do you want?" Her voice was barely functioning above a whisper.

Clarke didn't give a verbal response. Instead, she reached up, grabbed the back of Lexa's neck, and pulled her down for a kiss, fireworks bursting behind her eyelids. They had been fighting this for too long. Ever since Clarke had forgiven her for what she'd done at Mount Weather, the interactions had been laced with an emotion known only between the two of them. They'd been hesitant to cross the very clear line between friends and…more. They flirted, they danced around each other, but they hadn't kissed since their first one so many, many months before in Lexa's tent. But now, with the threat of the Ice Nation and civil war gone, the time was right. They were allowed to have this… _whatever_ it was between them. Hell, they _deserved_ this after all they'd been through.

Their lips never stopped meeting and it was some time before they finally came up for air. Lexa gently took Clarke's bottom lip between her teeth as she pulled back. Clarke was surprised that the ice beneath them hadn't melted with how hot and explosive that kiss was.

They laid there in silence for a minute, both processing what just happened. It was Clarke that shattered the quiet peace.

"Lexa?"

"Yes, Clarke?"

"Can we get up now? 'Cause my ass is _freezing._ "

Lexa laughed out loud and Clarke swore she'd never heard a more beautiful sound. She bent down and reconnected their lips in another heated kiss.


End file.
